Melt in your Mouth Hearty Blueberry Muffins

We needed something delicious, with blueberries, and I was determined to use the goat kefir. I kept thinking of Ina Garten's Blueberry Crumble that I used to make but wanted something heartier that wouldn't make you feel guilty afterwards. I found a great recipe over here at Finger Prickin' Good. Made some adjustments of my own of course. How could I not with all the farm fresh options we have around here.

Makes 12 Large Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick oats
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups homemade goat milk kefir (super thick to mimic Greek yogurt)
2 large eggs, beaten
4 Tbsp Applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

1. Heat oven to 350°.
2. Coat muffin tin with cooking spray or liners.
3. Combine flour, sugar, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
4. Combine kefir, beaten eggs, applesauce and vanilla in a second bowl.
5. Fold liquid mixture into dry mixture until complete stirs but not over stirred.
6. Gently fold in blueberries, I mixed in frozen ones that were coated in flour and gave 4 mixes in the bowl before they were almost mixed enough. Too much mixing and your dough turns purple!
7. Spoon into muffin tins until they are full full full. Scoop all the batter into the 12 tins to ensure large muffins.
8. Bake until the top starts to turn gold and they feel firm to the touch. About 20-25 minutes. I have two tins, one dark and 1 light. The dark tins browned the bottoms and the light tins did not. If using light tins I'd cook a touch longer.

Final thoughts:

These were mouth watering right out of the oven and so delish! I can't stand it when muffins get that wet soggy top by the next day and these did that. Maybe someone can tell me the secret to stopping this from happening. You couldn't feel the oats in the crumb fresh out of the oven but the next day you could really feel the heartiness the oats offered.  My hubby usually can't eat muffins/pastries for breakfast and after this he felt full like he got a morning kick of good stuff instead of just sugar and sweets. I'm guessing it's about 5-6 grams protein maybe more per muffin. It's so hard to estimate when everything I buy is bulk. I need to sit down and calculate it all out. One day....one day.....enjoy the goodies in the mean time! You might also want to try these protein packed super healthy but delicious chocolate chip chewies.

Dairy free (for those with protein intolerance of cow milk), oil free

Copy Cat Version of Dave's Killer Bread Good Seed.

Well, I just felt compelled to share this recipe! I absolutely love Dave's Killer Bread. I mean, who doesn't right? Good Seed is my choice and so I set out to make my own version at home. I just need to do a side by side taste test but you guys can tell me what I should change instead.  That is short of the sprouted grain flour because I just don't feel like make it (or buying it!). I did however sub 1 cup emmer grain flour and 1 cup bread flour because I was short on whole wheat flour. Let me know how your version goes! Here's the recipe with a little help from the bread machine as a time saver for me.

1 ¼ cups warm water

2 Tbsp white sugar

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp molasses

1 egg beaten

3 Cups Whole Wheat

¼ cup quinoa

¼ cup or more sesame seeds

¼ cup raw sunflower seeds

¼ cup flax meal

¼ cup whole flax seeds

¼ cup Irish Oatmeal (something hard)

¼ cup old fashioned oats

2-3 Tbsp cracked wheat

¼ cup packed full Vital Wheat Gluten

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp instant yeast

Use bread machine on dough cycle. Pull out when finished and shape for loaf pan. Heat oven to 350. Let rise until size is suitable and bake for 25-35 minutes in a large loaf pan.

I really enjoyed the crumb. The egg gives it a bit of fluff, yet it isn't in Dave's bread, but I needed it. I also over fill all my seed cups and even dump extra in and then roll the bread in seeds before I drop it in the loaf pan for it's final rise. The wheat gluten really gives it some stretch and could maybe use more depending how much whole wheat you use.  And lastly if it doesn't cook long enough it will be kind of gummy inside. That's a tell tale sign to bake it longer next time. Still good to eat though! And really yes you do need the molasses. Happy Baking!!

100% Sprouted Grain Bread Recipe #1

First I sprouted the following grains: wheat, barley, millet & spelt. Once all sprouted and combined they looked like this:

 Next I used my my champion juicer with the blank screen in to grind it to a pulp and activate the gluten.

I mixed about 1 TBSP. malted barley and 1TBSP yeast in my kitchen aid mixer with a touch of warm water to bubble for about 5 minutes. Then added the ground sprout mixture and used the mixer to bring it together. I put it in an oiled bowl to rise covered with plastic for about 2 hours. It rose a little. See note about skipping this rising step next time.

After the 2 hours I folded it over itself 2 times and rolled into a semi log shape gently and pressed it into the oil bread pan. Please not that this was a mistake. It should have gone directly into the loaf pans to rise and then bake.

 I baked it at 350 degrees for 40 minutes and this was not enough! I put it back in the oven at 275 degrees for 2 hours. This is how it looked before I put it back in for the second round of baking.

So it cooked up well, it was just a very dense little brick. I had to let it set up in the fridge for 2 days to get make it edible, otherwise it was too wet and gummy inside. I figured once I'm using wheat berries I might as well add some whole wheat flour next time and vital wheat gluten too. I don't like brick bread although it tasted delicious!

Dairy Free, Sugar Free version of the Even More Perfect Wonderful Whole Wheat Fluffy Sandwich Bread

It is so fun to experiment with bread. I have had to cut sugars out of my diet, along with most dairy and gluten. I still eat some gluten but I replace it wherever I can. I make this loaf for the family and I'm working on a sprouted grain loaf of bread (recipe coming soon as it's a serious work in progress!). My hubby cut all dairy and casein out of his diet due to an allergy and I'm finally succumbing to the fact that sugar is bad, especially in the quantity that I enjoy adding it to my foods and baked goods! Yikes. So here is step one - removing dairy and sugar.

This loaf came out so silky smooth and still had some sweetness from the malted barley. What is malted barley and where do you find it? Well it was hard to find but I go it in the sugar section of my store next to all the alternative sweeteners. The product brand is NOW but I'm sure there are others out there. I have heard that Bob's Red Mill makes one too. It's fine and powdering like a flour/sugar. It is made from sprouting Barley, then drying it in a dehydrator at no higher than 170 degrees and then grinding it into a flour. By converting the grain to sprout it ends up really sweet and a great alternative to sugar, perfect for low GI diets and when replacing your sugars in your recipe you use about 1/4 the amount. I used even less.

Yield: 2 loaves
Ingredients:

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

2 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)

2 tablespoons coconut milk (any milk alternative would work, I prefer coconut or nut milks)

2 Tablespoons Oil

1/4 Cup Malted Barley Sweetener

3 Tablespoons Flax meal

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoons Vital Wheat Gluten (Bob's Red Mill is what I used)

2 cups bread flour

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

Instructions:
1. Combine first 2 ingredients with a sprinkle of the malted barley and let proof for 5 minutes. I did this in the measuring cup so that I could put the next 3 ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir while waiting for the proof. Once the yeast mixture bubbly and fluffy add it to the mixing bowl and stir.

Malted Barley and Yeast Fermenting

Milk, Oil and Malted Barley

2. Add bread flour, 1 cup whole wheat, vital wheat gluten, flax meal and salt. Mix until smooth and then add the last 3/4 cup whole wheat a 1/4 cup at a time and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.  I do this in my kitehenaid mixer. The dough should be pulled away from the sides of the bowl, the bowl pretty clean and not sticky to the touch. Grease a bowl with olive oil, pull dough out onto the counter and knead it into a ball checking consistency int he process. Then place dough in the greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover with a clean towel and let rise until doubled, about 40 minutes to 1.5 hours.It's winter in my house and the wood stove keeps things pretty warm so mine doubled in 40 minutes.

 3. Punch dough down; knead for a few minutes until smooth and then form into two loaves. Place in 2 greased loaf pans and cover. Let rise in a warm place until it is the size you would like your loaf to be once baked. It will not rise in the oven, maybe a little, so don't put it in the oven until you like how it looks. Turn the oven on now. Mine takes about 20-30 minutes to heat up and I like it warm and ready to pop the bread into as soon as I like it's size. Having to wait for the oven to heat at that point could cause the bread to fall while waiting and it might rise too much during the heating period. So like I said. Turn it on now.

(Above) Before the rise in the pans & (Below) Risen and just about to start baking.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. If loaf starts browning too soon cover it with some foil. My loaves were perfect after 30 minutes. Very soft and tender but almost hard and hollow when knocked on.

5. Remove bread from oven and allow to rest in pan for a few minutes. This allows it to sweat a little and removes nicely from the pan and softens the crust. I like soft crust. I removed it to a wire rack to cool. I also put some plastic over the top to soften the top of the loaf. I take it off after about 10 mins. Slice and enjoy while still warm or wait until cooler so that your bread slices nicely! (click here for a little bread slicing tutorial) Leftover bread can be stored in an airtight bag or frozen until needed.

Now to figure out how to decrease the gluten content. Low GI Sprouted Grain bread here we come!

Update:

I adjusted the recipe to be a bit larger and have some oats and seeds. The additions are listed in the comments below and here are a couple pics. It came beautiful, soft and delicious. 

Back to the Wet Bread - No Knead Dough Extravaganza

No Knead French Bread
From Artisian Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

3 cups of lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt

6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Grab a very large mixing bowl, or a large container that you can cover. In it, mix the water, yeast, and salt. You don’t have to heat up the water to a precise optimal temperature for the yeast. I’ve even used just regular tap water, and it’s worked well for me. Just let that sit together for a while (you don’t have to wait for the yeast to dissolve completely), then dump the flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon. You don’t need to knead this, and you’re not looking to make it come together into a dough ball. You just want everything mixed well, it will be very wet a gloopy. I used a 1.3 gallon Tupperware and partially attach the lid. You barely have any cleanup because this will be the container the dough will live in while in your fridge until you finish it.

Leave it in your container, covered (but not airtight, or it’ll pop), for a few hours. When it has risen and then deflated a bit, your dough is done. It’s ready to be used or stored in the refrigerator. I keep mine in the cupboard where the under cabinet lights keep it about 80 degrees. In less than 2 hours it tops my container so I poke it a little and pop it into the fridge.

To bake the bread, dust lots of flour on the dough and just grab a chunk of dough, about the size of a grapefruit with scissors or a knife. With your dusted hands gently pull the sides of the dough toward the bottom, rotating the dough a quarter turn each time, until you get a roundish shape with a smooth surface. It should only take you about a minute or less to do this. Don't worry about the funky looking bottom.

Put it on a cutting board that’s been dusted with cornmeal and flour to prevent sticking, and let it rest for at least 40 minutes. No need to cover it. If the dough has been refrigerated, it helps to let it rest a little more, until it’s no longer chilled.

Twenty minutes before you are ready to bake, put a cast iron skillet (or a pizza stone) in the middle rack of your oven, and put a broiler pan (I used a cookie sheet) in the bottom rack. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Dust some flour on the top of your loaf, and slash the top, about 1/4-inch deep.

After twenty minutes of preheating, it’s time to bake. (You can put the bread in after 20 minutes, even if your oven hasn’t reached 450 degrees yet.) Slide the loaf onto the baking stone, and then quickly pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler pan. Then quickly shut the oven door to keep the steam inside.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until you get a nice brown crust. Remove and let cool completely. Sometimes for a softer crust I wrap the bread in plastic wrap after it comes out to hold the moisture. This is perfect when wanting to use it for soup bowls or sliced sandwich bread too.

PIZZA PIZZA
My newest trial was stretching it out to a flattish personal sized pizza dough shape and just before putting it in the oven topping it with pesto, cheese, artichoke hearts, feta and sun dried tomato's! yummiest pizza I have had in a while.

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

The swirl was such a nice addition!! Next time I might actually swirl it a bit more with a knife. A winner recipe for my books! Yum yum. I doubled the recipe and used 5x8 loaf pans, one dark bottomed and one silicone. Both came out beautiful.


Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

For the bread:

• 3 over-ripe bananas, smashed up
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• dash of salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour

For the swirl:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tbs cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter and four a loaf pan. Mine was 9 x 5, but you could use any sort, I suppose. Just keep a close eye on it in the oven, and adjust the time as needed
2. Mix bananas, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together. sprinkle baking soda and salt around on top of the banana mixture. Then gently stir in flour. Be careful not to over-mix!
3. In a small dish, mix together the 1/3 cup sugar and 1 Tbs cinnamon.
4. Add 1/2 of the batter to the loaf pan and then sprinkle half, or a little more than half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture all over the batter in the pan. Add the rest of the batter, and then sprinkle the leftover cinnamon-sugar on top.
5. Bake for 50-60 minutes, but remember, if you’re using a different-sized loaf pan, be careful and keep a close eyeball on it!

This recipe came to me via Lovin From the Oven! Here is her original post. http://www.lovintheoven.com/2010/03/cinnamon-swirl-banana-bread.html

40 minute buns rock!

Just a quick post to give a mention for these great 40 minute hamburger buns. I started making them 5:30 and they were ready at 6:30. I did let them rise for more than the 10 minutes suggested. And they were huge for our tiny burger patties, haha! I usually make really big patties too. Oh well!

These are so soft and delicious you just want to gobble them up with out the burger! Definitely try this recipe from the Fresh Loaf:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/18873/40-minute-hamburger-buns-or-rolls

Here is recipe:
Ingredients
* 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
* 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water (110° to 115°)
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions
* In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil and sugar; let
* stand for 5 minutes. Add the egg, salt and enough flour to form a
* soft dough.
*
* Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about
* 3-5 minutes. Do not let rise. Divide into 12 pieces (I make 6-8 depending on how big I want the buns to be); shape each into a ball. Place 3 in. apart on greased baking sheets.
*
* Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Bake at 425° for 8-12 minutes
* or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.
* Yield: 1/2 dozen to 1 dozen.

Slicing Bread & Round 3 Whole Wheat Bread

So here goes, this is how I've figured out to slice my whole wheat sandwich bread so it comes out just like store bought bread slices.

First have a decent bread knife, doesn't have to be amazing or expensive, it's all about your wrist! I do quick little slices back and forth, gently pressure, just like I'm an electric knife. I picture what those bread slicers do in the store and try do it with my knife on just one slice. I know I'm a dork. But I like to see things in my head, it's how my brain works. So just keep doing that till you reach the bottom and you did it!

Second you have to hold the slice upright so that it doesn't fall over and crack in half since this is really nice soft bread and you want it perfectly thin. Just like the picture above. Also the longer the loaf rises the fluffier it will be and the harder it is to slice and the more important it is for you to support the slice while cutting it.

Third, you can flip the bread over and slice it upside down. It squashes the top a little but it bounces back, just don't push too hard!


So this is my round 3 loaf, one of them, and as you can see they do come out different every time. So why does it look so different this time? Well hubbie helped out. I had to go to the store so he brushed the tops with half and half instead of milk and also they hadn't risen quite to where I wanted them when he put them in the oven. I also told him to leave off the oat sprinkle from the top because all it does is make a mess. Don't get me wrong, I think it looks pretty and all but this was just more practical.

So you can see the pretty bouncy muffin top is gone, it's a little denser too. It also did not "deflate" like the last couple batches. Not a bad thing but the other loaves you can see how wrinkled they were on top from the "deflating". I also like to wrap them up in plastic as they come out of the oven to maintain the moisture and so the crust gets soft because I personally dislike crunchy crust on my sandwich bread.

Chocolate Cravings??? Well I had one for chocolate chip banana bread

Thanks Rachel Ray for having great recipes. Got this one from her website and it came out delicious! I added extra chocolate chips too. :0 Here's the recipe or click here for the link to her site: As you can see we were so excited to eat it I didn't get picture till we were almost half way through it!




Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 bananas, mashed (1 cup mashed banana)
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F .

Grease and flour a 8 1/2-inch x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan (or use baking spray, such as Baker's Joy brand).

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix in the oil, bananas and eggs. Stir in the chocolate chips (do not overmix!) and pour into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 70-80 minutes. Cool the loaf in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely, right side up.

Notes for next time: Double the recipe and freeze one loaf because we obviously eat it way too fast! I almost did and am not quite sure why I decided against it. Darn!

Quick Update for the week

So I'm having a terrible time finding time! How does everyone else do it? Taking pictures, posting recipes, links oh my gosh! I've take the pictures but just wanted to give a quick update with out pictures of what's been made in the last week.

Baked 2 more whole wheat bread's. I forgot to mention that I paint the top with milk and sprinkle oats just before I pop it in the oven.

Made a delicious pizza - actually 2! Ok so pics and recipe to come.....actually we ate the pizza so fast I didn't get a picture of the finished product, yikes! Just the dough. haha! next time. I make them every week so we have more chances still for this months round up.

Wish me luck. ;)